The Russian asset in the Oval Office has an additional target for his rage these days: Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, another one of the grown-ups he was convinced to appoint by people who don't want the world to burn down quite yet. In January, the intelligence chief testified on the latest threat assessment, undercutting many of Trump's favorite themes. Contra Trump, ISIS is still a threat, North Korea is not hewing to Trump's will, and there is no national security crisis at our southern border. Trump blew up at the time, calling the members of his team "passive" and "wrong" and telling them to "go back to school." That didn't let off enough of his steam, so he's been stewing in his own bile, sources tell the Washington Post.
They say that Trump has never thought of Coats as "a close or trusted adviser," but is now "frustrated" and "disenchanted" and even "enraged," and is talking about firing the DNI. One adviser who talked to Trump over the weekend says Trump thinks Coats has "undercut the president's authority" with his intelligence assessments (national security assessments, that is, not his views of Trump's abilities, which we can only guess at). Trump appeared appeased in public when Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel told him that it was fake news and they'd been misquoted in that hearing, but privately has been telling people Coats is "not loyal" and "not on the team."
One telling issue that Trump just can't get over seems to go back all the way to last July, when Coats was at the Aspen Security Forum and was asked about Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Coats said that he hadn't been consulted about whether Trump should have met with Putin one-on-one at the previous Helsinki summit, but would have advised against it. Asked if he thought it was possible Putin recorded the meeting—there are no notes on the U.S. side, though the possibility of access to a recording can't be discounted—Coats answered, "That risk is always there." Which apparently made Trump "livid," thinking that Coats was purposefully trying to embarrass him in front of all those important national security people. As if it would take outside assistance for that.
So, how long will Coats be able to hang on? "This has been a tense relationship for a long time," one former official told the Post. "Most people don't think it's happening tomorrow. But, yes, they think it's just a matter of time."